Council tells homeowner to wait on warranty work

Wednesday

Jul 10, 2013 at 1:00 PM

The Sleepy Eye City Council, with a recommendation from City Engineer Dave Palm, decided to wait on possible repairs of curb and gutter on Emmerich Street after a homeowner is disappointed with the work that was done last fall during the street improvements project.

By Terri MelheimEditorEmail: tmelheim@sleepyeyenews.com

The Sleepy Eye City Council, with a recommendation from City Engineer Dave Palm, decided to wait on possible repairs of curb and gutter on Emmerich Street after a homeowner is disappointed with the work that was done last fall during the street improvements project.

Homeowner Tom Moldaschel told the council that he began to notice his curb and gutter was beginning to heave, crack and blister in March when the frost began to leave the ground.

“The heaving is a major concern for me,” Moldaschel said. “I feel that this problem needs to be corrected and done under warranty.”

The council explained that the warranty on street repairs does not begin until the city makes a final payment to the contractor, which will be sometime this fall, and extends for two years.

City Engineer Dave Palm explained to Moldaschel and the council that the curb and gutter was laid with 18 inches of extra granular product to minimize the unstable soils and the heaving.

“We know that street has been heaving and moving up and down for the past 10 years,” Palm said. “It is a stroke of bad luck that occasionally we do get unstable soils.”

He went on to explain that the curb in front of Moldaschel’s house did heave when the spring frost was coming out of the ground, but has since gone back down and continues to drain properly.

“I wouldn’t recommend replacing it immediately,” Palm added. “Sometimes a curb and gutter will heave once and not do it again.”

City Manager Mark Kober agreed with the council’s decision to wait the recommended 18 months and than assess the situation again, saying at that time if it needs to be replaced it will be replaced at that time.